Designed to recreate the ‘vintage digital’ sound of the Roland SDE‑3000 rack unit, the Boss SDE‑3 hosts dual delays that can be used in various permutations of mono or stereo in and out, although there are some limitations if running it as a stereo‑in, mono‑out pedal — the inputs lock with their respective outputs when a stereo input is received. An Offset knob adjusts the relative time difference between the two delays, which run in parallel. Occupying a standard Boss compact pedal format, the case has dual jacks for the inputs and for the outputs, plus another jack for external control. There’s also a MIDI mini‑jack on the rear for sync’ing the delay time to MIDI Clock, as well as a Carryover on/off switch that allows for echoes to fade out naturally when the pedal is bypassed.
The pedal LED flashes at the delay rate, and the delay time can be tapped in by holding down the pedal to enter tap mode or by using an external tap switch, connected via the CTL/EXP jack input. This can accommodate two switches for tap tempo (CTL1) and hold (CTL2) or an expression pedal. Note that the SDE‑3’s Time knob and tap‑tempo functions are bypassed when MIDI Clock is being received, though the Offset time setting is not affected by either tap‑tempo or MIDI Clock. If an expression pedal is plugged into the CTL/EXP jack controls, it can control the delay time, level and feedback simultaneously, which is great for the creation of special effects. (The CTL/EXP jack function is set using a power‑up routine.) Other user settings include the option for standard stereo delay or alternate panning delays, plus three output options: stereo, wet from one output and delay from the other, or direct mute for when only the delays are needed.
To make all this fit into a standard Boss pedal, three dual‑concentric control are used, giving access to the wet/dry mix, delay feedback and delay time. Turning the level control clockwise raises the delay repeat volume relative to the unity dry signal. Delays of up to 800ms are available in stereo (twice that in mono), with the minimum delay being essentially 0s. The knobs’ outer rings address modulation depth and rate, and high‑cut filtering. The aforementioned Offset control can apply up to 100ms difference between the left and right delay lines. Turning Offset clockwise from centre offers a choice of eighth‑note and dotted‑eighth‑note delays as well as in‑between settings.
The stereo output options are a real bonus for studio work.
Its impressive dual‑delay feature aside, the SDE‑3 delivers a very musical delay sound that can be given an even more vintage flavour by dialling in a little pitch modulation and rolling off a little high end with the tone knob. Offset allows for all those tricky delays that included dotted rhythms (‘Run Like Hell’, anyone?) while the stereo output options are a real bonus for studio work, or live work using two amps. Boss have always made really great delay pedals but there’s something about this one that just draws you in and makes you want to keep on playing.
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£172 including VAT.
$219.99
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